


There Was No Deer

by MeganRosenberg



Category: Orange is the New Black
Genre: Assault, Attempted Sexual Assault, Comforting, Comforting Nicky Nichols, Gen, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Protective Nicky Nichols, Protectiveness, Sexual Assault, Threats, Threats of Rape/Non-Con, Threats of Violence, moscow mule
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-15
Updated: 2019-03-29
Packaged: 2019-11-18 13:09:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18121370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeganRosenberg/pseuds/MeganRosenberg
Summary: Hoping to gain information from Lorna regarding Red's smuggling business, Mendez has her drive him in the van far away from the prison camp. He threatens her and attacks her when she doesn't give him the information he wants. Morello defends herself in the only way she can think of. Extended/Alternate Scene from the season 1 episode: Moscow Mule.





	1. Chapter 1

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CHAPTER 1

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As soon as Mendez had ordered her to get into the van and start driving, Morello had been immediately suspicious and nervous. The guy had always given off a creepy vibe, and he hadn't told her where they were going. That never happened. They didn't have her drive if it was something huge enough to be a secret. They didn't trust any of the prisoners that much. She was always told where they were going. But not today...

They had been driving for a while now - at least ten or fifteen minutes... The road was surrounded by trees and not much else. They weren't driving toward any towns - not that she knew of... They were just driving on the backroads - in the middle of nothing. Either he was taking her out to do something cruel to her, or she was unintentionally getting involved in something very illegal. What could he possibly be doing? Was he going to assault her? Kill her? Make some sort of drug deal with her as a witness for some reason? That didn't make sense...

For whatever reason, he wanted whatever was happening here to happen without witnesses... But also for whatever reason, Morello was included in it. No witnesses - except her. Why would he do anything he could get in trouble and allow her to see him do it? Unless the thing he was planning involved hurting her.

But if he planned to attack her, why make her drive all the way out here? Of course, no witnesses and all that, obviously... But guards hurt prisoners all the time without having to bother being secretive. There were lots of ways to get her alone in the prison - or even just get her alone enough that the people who saw or heard something wouldn't be the right ones - wouldn't be the ones who would care to stop him.

So was he taking her out here to kill her? Why would he do that? She didn't cause trouble. She was fairly obedient and quiet within the prison. She wasn't a problem he'd need to deal with. Why would he want to kill her?

She glanced across the van at him. He was just staring out the windshield. Was he secretly a murderer? Maybe he just killed people because he liked it - not because he felt he had to - but because he wanted to. She couldn't say that would be surprising... He hadn't killed any prisoners though. None of them went missing. The other prisoners and guards would notice if someone just went missing.

Morello looked back out at the road as she continued driving. Women did get trasnferred or released though. Maybe that's when he killed them... Maybe he had somehow gotten paperwork together to claim she had been released... and only he would know that she was dead.

She inhaled a small breath as she shrunk down slightly in the seat. If he wanted to kill her, there wasn't really anything she was going to be able to do about it. He was a guard; she was a prisoner. She couldn't argue or fight until absolutely necessary. If she hit or kicked him - even in self-defense - she was going to get in trouble for it... And she probably couldn't physically fight him off anyway. He was nearly six and a half feet tall. She was barely five feet.

She glanced nervously across the front of the van again, noting he was still sitting very still, seemingly very disinterested as he stared out the windshield.

"Where was it we're goin'?" Morello asked in a sort of out-of-breath voice, trying not to sound as frightened as she was feeling.

"Wherever I tell you to go." Mendez answered with a raised eyebrow.

She exhaled and nodded, feeling tears springing to her eyes. Mendez not telling her what was going on made this all the more frightening. There was no destination - or at least the destination was a secret. It couldn't be anything innocent...

"Okay..." She breathed. "It's just, I'm not supposed to be this far from camp." Maybe making it clear she didn't want to break any rules would convince him to not do whatever it was he was planning. She wasn't a threat. She wasn't a problem. He didn't have to get rid of her...

"You're not supposed to wear that pretty whore lipstick either..." He paused and looked over at her with a smirk. "But you do, don't ya?"

She glanced over toward him and forced a small laugh, then looked back out through the windshield, swallowing nervously as she kept driving. He was going to do something... He got her alone, and he was finally going to do something. The guy had seemed creepy since the day she first met him. It didn't seem to be anything personally against her - he was creepy to everyone, probably had raped people before... And this time it was going to be her.

"Yeah... Stop here..." He finally said.

Morello inhaled shakily and pulled over along the side of the road. There were trees on both sides. Nothing else. No other traffic. They were in the middle of nowhere. If he wanted to do something to her, he could... There would be no one to stop him. He was over a foot taller than she was, had the benefit that she was a prisoner and he was a guard. No one would believe her - or if they did, they wouldn't care...

"Shut the car off." He whispered.

She continued staring wordlessly out the front windshield, but reached down toward the ignition and twisted the key. She couldn't bring herself to look at him, afraid doing so would make whatever he wanted to do happen sooner.

As she continued staring through unshed tears at the empty, twisted road ahead, she heard him inhale a few feet to her right. She wanted so badly to just jump out of the car and run. If she weren't a prisoner, she would have - if this were any other man, and she were free... No way would she stay in the car right now.

He exhaled as she whimpered and looked down. "The old Moscow mule..." He spoke.

She looked over at him with furrowed brows. "Red?" She whispered. Was that what this was about? He wanted information on Red? She couldn't give it to him...

"She's got a way of bringing stuff in." He noted, turning toward her and staring her down.

Morello looked away again. She couldn't give him information on Red. She couldn't betray the woman like that - no matter what Mendez threatened her with.

"It's not really up to code." He added as she glanced back up at him. "Do you know what I mean?"

She looked down and breathed out a nervous laugh. "No..." She lied.

"I need to know how." He demanded in a low, breathy voice.

She stared back at him. "I don't know what you're talking about..." She responded. "I drive." She reminded him, gesturing toward the steering wheel. "I don't work kitchen." That was a convincing lie, right? Why would she know what Red did in the kitchen? Sure, she and Red belonged to the same sort of make-shift prison family, but that didn't mean the woman told Morello everything she ever did. Families kept secrets from each other all the time.

"I know... You're afraid of her." Mendez nodded. "Shit." He laughed after a long pause. "I don't blame you. But... You know what?" He unclicked his seat belt as she swallowed and tried to not be noticeable as she shrunk down in her seat. "There are things out here much worse than some scary Russian bitch."

Morello inhaled a shaking breath as she looked around herself, silently debating in her head what to do. She really could just undo her seat belt, open the door, and make a run for it. She'd be in a lot of trouble once she was caught... But it would keep him from doing anything to her for the moment at least.

She winced, closed her eyes and shrunk down toward the window slightly as he turned in his seat and reached out toward her face, choosing at the last second to rest his hand on the head-rest of her seat as he stared her down.

"I'm gonna ask you again, nicely..." He started.

She nervously looked back at him, glancing toward his large hand on the back of her seat. Tears still stung at her eyes. His hand was so big... He was so big.

"And then the third time..." He went on. "It's not gonna be very nice... For you." he added with a small smirk.

Morello swallowed nervously, trying to keep her tears from falling. She couldn't give in... She had to stay strong here. "I told you..." She persisted, her voice shaking slightly as she stared right at him, trying to prove to him that she had nothing to tell him - that she wasn't the right person to ask or threaten - that he wasn't going to be able to get the information he was looking for here. "I don't know what she does... I drive, and I do what I need to do."

Mendez stared back at her as she refused to let herself look away. She had to be strong. She couldn't look scared or guilty... Of course, she probably did look scared, but who wouldn't with this giant creep staring them down, threatening them while they were locked in a van out in the middle of nowhere?

She stared back, exhaling and turning slightly toward him. "And I can't help you, 'cause I really don't know." She lied. "So you do... whatever." She glared. "I can't tell you what I don't know..."

The two of them stared silently at each other for a few seconds. Her eyes brimming with tears, his looking a strange mixture of excited, frustrated, and amused.

She inhaled and closed her eyes as he moved his hand off the back of her seat, reaching out toward her face, but not touching her.

He drew his hand back and she opened her eyes. He was just staring and frowning. He looked annoyed. She swallowed and shrunk down further.

"You're really gonna make me do this?" He breathed.

She opened her mouth and shook her head, unsure of what to say.

"Fine." He forced a exasperated laugh and reached down toward her seat belt.

Lorna whimpered softly as he unbuckled it and let go. It slid up over her chest and she shifted in her seat, trying to create even an inch or two more distance between her and him.

"Move your seat back." He ordered as he turned in his seat and leaned forward toward her. He was so tall that he'd be close enough that their faces could touch if she weren't pressing herself back against the window.

She swallowed and shook her head very slightly. "Why?" She breathed.

Mendez forced another chuckle. "I told you the third time wasn't gonna be nice. Move your seat back, inmate." He demanded.

With a shaking hand, she reached down under the seat, pulling the switch that would move the seat. She let out a small wince as the seat moved. "I don't know anything..." She promised as she stared down at her lap, grabbing the material of her pants in her two hands and bunching it up into fists while resisting the urge to draw her feet up into the seat and hug her legs against her chest.

"I might have a way to jog your memory." Mendez smirked, scooting to the side-edge of his seat and stooping over her. "This is kinda awkward, isn't it?" He laughed, hovering over her and reaching his fingertips up toward her cheek.

Morello winced and shrunk back, but looked up at him.

"Maybe you should be the one climbing on top of me, huh?" He laughed. "How you wanna do this?"

She felt her lip trembling as she shook her head. "Can we just go back now?" She whispered.

Mendez smirked and shook his head no as he reached his other hand out toward her stomach, feeling around for the hem of her shirt.

"No... No, no no... Please..." She whimpered as she reached her own hand out and grabbed at his. She felt her tears close to falling now as her voice shook. "Please just let me drive back. I won't say anything about any of this..."

"You won't say anything anyway." He laughed, ignoring her hand and pushing his up under her shirt, over her stomach and toward her breast.

"Stop..." She whispered, squeezing her eyes shut as her tears spilled over. She grabbed with both of her hands now, at his one larger, much stronger hand, trying to push it off of her. "Please don't hurt me... I don't have the information you want... I don't know what you want me to do... I could just make something up... I don't-"

"Shhh..." He chuckled, putting his finger up against her lips and squeezing his other hand over her breast. "If you're not gonna say anything useful, you can just shut up."

Morello choked out a small sob as she gave up on trying to push his hand away from her breast and reached out for his chest instead, pushing both of her hands against him. He felt so solid - so firmly planted in place.

She swallowed and stared up into his eyes as she breathed out a shaky breath. "I don't know anything..."

"Fine." He shrugged. "That's not what I want anymore anyway. The way I see it, inmate... you're good for about two things - information, if you have it... and..." He paused, looking her up and down. "You're kinda hot in your own weird little way... You can't give me the first thing, so... Now I just wanna stick my dick in something warm. You can't help me with the Red stuff? Fine. You can help me with this."

She exhaled and shoved her hands against his chest even harder as she pushed her back up against the van's window and door. She felt like she couldn't breathe as she stared at him, watching his eyes roam over her body, settling on her thighs. "If I make you bleed, you can just pad or tampon that shit, alright?" He looked up at her with raised eyebrows. "Don't you dare request to see a nurse or doctor or anything dumb."

Morello still couldn't bring herself to inhale again as she stared back. He was being so blunt... Was he serious?

"I'm just sayin'." He laughed, reaching both hands up toward her hips and grabbing the waistband of her pants. "I gotta big dick, and you're really tiny."

"No..." Lorna whispered, reaching her hands down toward his and grabbing them frantically. She didn't want to fight back too hard - if she hit or kicked him, he'd just get mad - claim she attacked him without reason. He had control here - he was in a position of power - in so many ways. All he had to do was say she was violent or otherwise disobedient and everyone would believe him. Everyone in charge would anyway. She had to get him to stop without becoming violent herself. He'd overpower her anyway, and she'd just end up with him more angry, and her in the SHU.

"Shhh..." He cooed, grabbing the top of her pants in fists as he leaned down close so that his lips were near her ear. "There's nothing to be scared of. It'll be fun." He breathed.

She whimpered and turned her head to the side as she gripped her hands on top of his. She felt her heart pounding in her chest. She was starting to panic. She couldn't just sit here and let him take of her clothes and hurt her. "Please don't... You can't do this..." She begged, hearing her voice tremble with unshed tears.

Mendez let out a soft chuckle as he smirked down at her. "Yes I can." He disagreed, tugging rather roughly at her pants.

"No! Get off of me!" Morello finally screamed, balling her hand into a fist and swinging out toward his jaw.

He groaned in pain and then let out a growling sound as he reached out and grabbed at her wrist, squeezing hard. "You bitch." He grumbled, swinging his own hand down across her face, hitting her very hard against her cheek.

Morello whimpered as she tried to pull herself into a small ball. She brought her hands up to her face as she dragged her feet up into the seat and tried to shrink back against the door.

"You fuckin' idiot." He growled, grabbing her arm and pulling roughly, forcing her out of her defensive position. "Now I'm gonna hurt you on purpose." He threatened as he let go of her long enough to reach down toward his own pants. He unbuckled his belt.

Morello shook her head as tears dripped down over her cheeks. Not knowing what else to do, she pushed herself up to the edge of the seat, reached down toward the ignition, and started the van.

"What are you doing?" Mendez growled, reaching out toward her hand as she quickly shifted the van into drive and slammed her foot down on the gas.

"Stop the fucking van, right now!" He demanded.

"No!" She screamed, pushing her foot down harder. As soon as she pulled over, he was going to hurt her. If she was in control - even just a little - he could't do what he wanted. She could crash the van and kill them both if he tried to hurt her. He had to back off.

"God damn it..." He grumbled, grabbing at the steering wheel and sitting on the edge of the seat, pushing her harshly against the van's door as he tried to slide his own foot down toward the brake.

"Let go! Get away or I'll crash on purpose!" She threatened.

"You dumb damn bitch..." Mendez growled as he pushed further in front of her, grabbing and pulling at the wheel, shoving his leg down between hers, stabbing his foot rather aimlessly toward the break. "Stop the van, inmate!" He demanded. "Now!"

Morello whimpered and pressed her foot down harder, pulling at the steering wheel. She could no longer see the road with Mendez practically sitting on top of her.

"Let go, you stupid bitch!" He demanded as she held on with a death grip. "Fuck!" He screamed as the ride suddenly got a lot more bumpy.

With a small wince, Lorna squeezed her eyes shut and held onto the wheel tighter. She felt a sharp pain through her forearm as the van tilted, stopped suddenly and painfully, and then started to roll.

She tried to grab at anything to brace herself, but her arm and hand hurt so bad. She kept her eyes squeezed shut as the van stopped moving and she finally landed hard. The breath was knocked out of her lungs and she wasn't sure if she could manage to intake a breath as she squeezed her eyes shut and winced.

Morello wasn't sure if she was conscious or not, living or dead... She couldn't breathe. She couldn't see. She couldn't think. She just felt pain - all over. Radiating up and down her arm, through her hand, all the way to her elbow. She felt a sharp throbbing in both her forehead and the back of her head, and her lungs felt stuck, unable to expand.

Rather than try to breathe, open her eyes, or move, she simply let the warm, numb feeling at the edge of her awareness take over. She began to relax and felt herself grow limp.

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	2. Chapter 2

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CHAPTER 2

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The first thing Lorna noticed upon waking up was that she was in quite a bit of pain. She could hear the sound of her own moaning as she tried to remember where she was and what had happened. A shaking noise came out of her mouth as she felt her body trembling. Had her own pained whimpers woken her up?

Morello choked out a sharp breath as she tried to get herself to inhale a full breath and open her eyes. She felt that she was on her back, lying against something solid. Something else solid and warm was on top of her too, crushing her painfully down. It had to be Mendez. She wondered if he was conscious - or even alive. She kind of hoped he was dead... but then, if he was, would she be charged with murder? She had driven off against his orders. She didn't crash on purpose... but would they know that? Maybe they'd assume she had driven the van off the road deliberately in an attempt to kill him... She could get in a lot of trouble for that - even if it wasn't true.

With a shaking, painful inhale, she blinked her eyes open, finding that Mendez was unfortunately doing the same, groaning as he climbed off of her.

"You dumb fucking bitch..." He exhaled as he climbed to his hands and knees.

Her lower lip trembled as more tears threatened to fall from her eyes. "I didn't want you to hurt me..." She whimpered.

"I wasn't going to, you idiot whore." He growled, reaching out toward the radio on the van and grabbing it. "Hey, this is Mendez. We're gonna need a lift back. God damned Morello swerved to miss a fucking deer and ran us into the ditch. Hit a tree and rolled the van." He lied.

She swallowed and closed her eyes as he continued speaking. Whoever was on the other end of the radio said something back. Mendez responded. They went back and forth for a few minutes while Morello's frazzled mind tried to calm down. She couldn't focus on his conversation. She had no idea if he was saying anything she should be paying attention to. She just knew she was in pain, and she was still scared of what Mendez might do. She had distracted him at least. The crashed van was a rather large problem - something else to focus on - something important. Maybe he wouldn't hurt her now - not yet at least.

"Get up." She heard his voice and felt his hands on both of her upper arms, grabbing her hard and pulling her up to her feet. He pretty much dragged her up and out the door and then onto the road.

Morello couldn't help but to sob as she raised her arms up defensively over her face. Her wrist and hand really hurt. She might have hit her head too. She felt so entirely defeated and vulnerable right now. She knew she was hurt, and she was scared Mendez might still not have given up. She had gotten him to stop for a moment, but she was still alone with him - and now she had a further disadvantage - she was in a lot of pain and felt weaker than ever.

"Sit down here, you fucking idiot." Mendez ordered as he practically shoved her down into a sitting position on the side of the road.

Lorna kept her hands up covering her face as she shrunk down, drawing her legs up and trying to make herself as small as possible. "Please don't hurt me..." She whispered, unable to bring herself to look up at him as he squatted down in front of her.

"Aww, fuck..." Mendez groaned as he pulled one of her hands away from her face and ran his fingers over her forehead, brushing her hair up. "You're bleeding."

"I am?" She breathed, reaching up with a trembling hand.

"Got a cut on your forehead. It's not that bad..." Mendez exhaled. "Listen, we need our story straight. You asked me to take the van out with you because you heard a rattling sound the other day."

"I did?" Her voice shook.

He nodded. "You said it only happened while you were driving and we had to take a drive to try to get it to happen again so I could guess what might be the problem. We were just driving around waiting for the rattling sound. That's it. Nothing else was said. Nothing else happened. Got it?"

She stared up at him with wide, tear-brimmed eyes, but nodded her head. "Mm hmm..." She agreed.

"You overreacted. I wasn't gonna do anything." He lied.

"Yes you were..." She whimpered, shrinking down and squeezing her eyes shut. She couldn't forget how he had pushed his hand up under her shirt, how he started unbuckling his belt... He even said she was going to do it.

She winced and felt herself stiffen as his large hands wrapped around her upper arms, squeezing tight as he knelt down in front of her. "Look at me." He growled.

She forced herself to blink her eyes open as she stared at him with a pout on her lips. Her lower lip was trembling too. She couldn't help it.

"I was kidding. I was fuckin' with you." He persisted. "I wanted answers. I tried to scare you into giving them to me. But you can't tell anyone that part. I'm not joking here. You don't fucking tell anyone I asked you shit. Don't say I threatened you or hurt you. Don't tell 'em I even touched you. I'll make you wish you were dead."

"Okay..." She breathed. She felt tears rolling down her cheeks as she stared up into his eyes. He was glaring back. His hands around her upper arms were holding onto her so tightly. She could feel bruises forming under his hard, long fingers. He still wasn't loosening his grip. "Could you let me go?" She breathed.

Mendez scoffed and rolled his eyes as he squeezed his hands tighter.

"Ow- You're hurting me..." She whimpered, biting her lower lip as more tears sprung to her eyes.

"You tell me what happened here. Repeat it back - what you'd say if anyone asks." He demanded, still squeezing her arms in a death-grip.

"I uh..." She hesitated, looking around herself as she tried to remember what he'd said into the radio earlier and then what he said out here just a moment before. "I heard a noise in the van and you... And I wanted you to check it. It didn't happen unless the van was movin', so we drove out here and I hit a deer and-"

"No!" He growled, shaking her by her arms.

She whimpered and shrunk down, closing her eyes as more tears dripped down over her cheeks.

"You didn't hit a fucking deer. Do you see a deer lying anywhere nearby? Do you see deer hair or deer blood on the fucking van?" He was practically screaming.

"I don't know... That's what you said..." She gasped.

"You swerved to miss a deer." He corrected, his voice frustrated. "You didn't hit it. Our stories gotta match, and they've gotta make sense. This won't work unless we're on the same page. There's no deer out here. There's no evidence that we hit a deer. So we missed it. You swerved to miss it. Got it?"

She nodded shakily, swallowing as she looked at his shoulder rather than forcing herself to look him in the eyes.

"Say it back. Try it again." He demanded. "What happened?"

She closed her eyes and exhaled. "We drove out here to check a noise in the van. I swerved to miss a deer, and we hit a tree and rolled the van."

"That's it. That's exactly right." Mendez nodded with a small smile.

"Great..." She breathed, looking up at him. "Now can you let go of me, please? You're hurting my arms..."

He inhaled and exhaled slowly, but finally loosened his grip and stood up. She shrunk down and focused on breathing as she stared down at the ground.

She wondered how much trouble she was in here. It seemed like he was willing to lie to cover up a lot of what actually happened - but surely that was for his own sake - not hers. She didn't do anything wrong here. All she did was defend herself... That didn't mean she wouldn't suffer for it though. Prisoners got in trouble for defending themselves all the time - especially when they had to defend themselves against a guard.

"You know..." He started as he began to pace around a few feet from her. "I can't believe you fucking did that..."

She stared down at the grass and dried leaves on the edge of the road. He still sounded agitated. It took them ten or fifteen minutes to get out here, which meant it would be at least that long before someone came to pick them up. She wasn't safe yet - not even close. He still had at least five or ten minutes to do whatever he wanted before there would be a witness. Hell, depending on who they sent, he might have even longer.

"That was really bold. Really defiant." He went on.

Lorna swallowed, still staring down at the ground. What had he expected? He attacked her. He was shoving his hand up under her shirt. He said he was going to rape her and he started unbuckling his belt to do it. Was she supposed to just sit there and let that happen? Did he really expect that?

"Why did you do that?" He asked, kneeling down in front of her again.

She shook her head and swallowed nervously. "I was scared... You were attacking me..." She whispered.

He laughed and closed his eyes, shaking his head. He blinked his eyes back open and narrowed them down at her. "You really thought I was gonna rape you?" He smirked.

She shrunk down and looked away.

"You thought I really would?" He asked in a lower voice. She could hear him smiling. His voice betrayed that he thought this was funny. It certainly wasn't funny to her.

She still refused to look at him, but couldn't help but to whimper softly as he brought his hand up to her cheek. She avoided eye contact with him as she felt his fingers brush over her throat, down into her shirt, over her collarbone.

Not knowing what else to do, she reached up and grabbed his wrist with both of her hands, even the hurt one. "Please don't..." She begged, hearing her voice shaking with tears.

"Don't what, Babe?" He laughed, pushing his hand further into her shirt so that his fingers moved under her bra strap and around her shoulder.

"Don't hurt me... Don't do this... You said you wouldn't..." She whimpered.

"That was before you fucked up the van." He laughed. "I was kidding with you before... And now you wrecked the fucking van. I'm lying to protect you here... Least you could do is let me get something out of it."

She shook her head and started to sob. There wasn't much she could do here. If she fought back, he would overpower her get her in trouble. She had no power here, and she was hurt. Her wrist throbbed and she was certain she had hit her head twice while the van was rolling.

"Shhh..." He urged as he reached out with his unoccupied hand and put it against the back of her neck, pulling her toward him, against his chest.

She couldn't help but to continue crying into his shirt as he hugged her close. She didn't want his hands on her in any capacity - not even if he was pretending to be comforting.

"You're alright, Honey." He cooed as he held her against his chest. His other hand was still in her shirt, rubbing up and down her shoulder and arm, snaking down toward her breast. "I know you're scared. Car crashes are scary... You'll be okay..."

"Please..." She whimpered, pressing her hand uselessly against his chest. "I didn't mean to crash the van... I was scared... You were hurting me. I just wanted you to stop..."

"Oh. Well, this part won't hurt." He promised, moving his hand up out of her shirt and running it down her side toward her waist. "I think what really scared you was the thought of my big, thick dick ramming your tight little pussy. Right?"

She breathed in a sharp breath and squeezed her legs together tightly as she shrunk down as much as she could and stared down at the ground.

"Well, I won't do that part, okay? Can't risk being in the middle of that when backup arrives anyway, huh?" He laughed. "So just lie back and let me get in a couple fingers. No one will ever know. It won't hurt you... I'll get at least something out of this fucking mess... We'll all be even and no one has to suffer."

Morello shook her head and pushed her hands against his chest. "No..." She squeaked.

"No?" He scoffed, leaning back enough to look down into her eyes.

"No." She said again, scowling up at him.

She breathed in and out as she stared up at him and as he stared back. He was frowning. She was certain she was too, but was mostly focused on trying to read his expression.

Morello let out a small, started scream as Mendez suddenly reached out and grabbed a fist-full of her shirt in his hand, pushing her back rather hard against the asphalt road.

"Stop!" She whimpered as she reached up with both hands and grabbed at his arm. She squeezed her eyes shut in pain as he held her down firmly with the hand over her chest and reached his other down toward her pants. "Please!" She sobbed.

She squirmed under him as he wordlessly grabbed the front of her pants pulling them down about an inch before electing to just push his hand down the front of them instead.

"Please don't!" Morello sobbed, grasping uselessly at his arm and trying desperately to pry it away from her.

Mendez panted as he pushed his fingers down past the waistband of her pants, struggling to weasel them down into her panties.

Lorna whimpered shakily as tears streamed down her cheeks. She tried her best to thrash under him. "Get off of me!" She cried.

"Hold still." Mendez breathed as he forced his hand further into her pants, sliding his fingers down over her skin until he reached the top of her panties. "I'll be gentle if you just hold the fuck still." He growled.

She wouldn't help but to break down into shaking, breathless sobs as she grabbed desperately and uselessly at his arm. He was so strong. She couldn't move his hand away - not even with both of hers desperately grabbing and pulling at his forearm.

He glanced to his left, obviously hearing the sound of an approaching vehicle long before Morello did. She couldn't focus on anything but her own pain and fear. She hadn't heard a thing. She just knew one second he was violently forcing his hand down the front of her pants. The next, he was swearing under his breath, adjusting her pants and pulling her back up into a sitting position.

Morello couldn't help but to sob as she felt Mendez pull her into a hug. "It's okay. You'll be okay." He said as the sound of slowly-moving tires cracking over loose asphalt pebbles and a few dried leaves filled the air around them.

She kept her eyes closed as she heard a car door close, followed by footsteps approaching.

"She's scared. She hit her head and she's bleeding. She's been pretty upset. I've been trying to calm her down." Mendez explained. "We'll get you to the doctor, Sweetheart. You don't gotta cry."

"Damn. You really did roll the fuckin' thing." She heard Luschek's voice next.

Morello sniffed back tears as she pulled back from Mendez as much as the man would allow and looked up at Luschek, trying to tell him with her eyes that she wanted him to get Mendez away from her, that she wasn't comforted by his hug - that he wasn't being caring - he was being creepy. She couldn't actually say it. She couldn't tattle on the man. It would just mean more pain later.

"Wow. Yeah. She might have a concussion." Luschek noted as he stared down at her. "Let's get her in the car. You hurt, Mendez?" He asked the other man.

"Nah. I don't think so. Nothing significant. Maybe a couple bruises, but I'll live." He laughed.

"I told 'em we shouldn't let the inmates drive - not in a women's prison." Luschek smirked.

Morello frowned as Mendez put his hands on both of her upper arms and pulled her to her feet. "We'll get you all taken care of." He whispered, faking compassion in front of the other man.

She swallowed and let him lead her toward the car, climbing into the back seat and exhaling as soon as Mendez closed the door behind her and chose to sit up front rather than to further harass her.

xxxxxx


	3. Chapter 3

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CHAPTER 3

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Nicky lingered quietly near Lorna's bunk. She had been waiting hours for the smaller woman to return and was starting to get worried. Morello had been gone most of the day. Nicky didn't exactly keep tabs on her at all times, but when she started hearing people talking about a car accident and the young woman didn't ever come back, she started to feel genuinely scared for her friend.

Rumors had been spreading quietly through the prison for the past three or four hours. Nicky heard Morello was being held in the medical wing at the moment - thanks to an accident involving the prison's van. No one would tell her what the younger woman's injuries were - how severe the accident had been - why she was even driving the van in the first place. They wouldn't let her near the prison's hospital rooms either... So she was stuck waiting. Hoping that it was nothing serious.

She didn't even know Morello was finally approaching until she heard the young woman's heavily accented voice respond to something Pornstache was mumbling as he walked near. The man was so tall that Nicky didn't even see Morello walking next to him. She wouldn't have ever known the tiny woman was there if she hadn't spoken back to the guy.

"So no hard feelings, okay?" He whispered.

"Yeah." Morello answered, her voice so small Nicky could barely hear her.

"You won't try to turn this into a thing, hm? As far as I'm concerned, it's done. I won't turn it into something if you don't. Back to business as usual. We all good?" Mendez asked.

"Yep. We're good. Thanks." Morello's voice shook very slightly. Nicky could swear she sounded close to tears.

Nicky narrowed her eyes and tried to see around the tall prison guard as the man led Morello straight to her bunk and didn't walk off until the small brunette sunk down onto her bed. It didn't seem like either one of them had even noticed Nicky lingering quietly nearby.

Still frowning, Nicky stared. That was weird... Pornstache's words sounded almost threatening. Morello sounded scared. What the hell had happened?

Nicky waited for the guard to turn the corner and disappear around the bend at the end of the hall before walking quietly up toward her friend, who was busying herself curling up on top of her blanket, hugging her arms around herself and sniffing softly.

With a frown and furrowed brows, Nicky silently observed her small friend before making her presence known. Morello's left wrist had some sort of split around it. She had a small bandage above her right eyebrow, about three-fourths of the way up between her brow and hairline. She also had a bruise on her cheek and more bruises on her arms. Nicky cocked her head to the side and stared. The bruises almost looked finger shaped - like someone had grabbed her arms really hard.

"You okay, kid?" Nicky finally asked.

Morello gasped and pulled herself up on her mattress, immediately blinking quickly, sniffing back tears, dabbing at her cheeks with her hands and forcing a huge smile all within a matter of seconds. "I'm fine." She breathed, but her voice shook and her eyes brimmed with tears.

"What happened?" Nicky frowned.

"Um..." Morello hesitated. "You know... Nothin'?" She forced a breathless laugh and shrugged.

Nicky shook her head as she stared down at her friend, sitting down on the mattress next to her and pulling her feet and legs up onto the bed so she could face her friend. "What happened, Morello?" She asked again, trying to look and sound as serious as she felt. "I heard something about the van crashing. Someone said they heard you hit a deer or something..."

Morello's eyes widened as she shook her head quickly. "No..." She looked so serious. "I did not hit a deer. There was no deer."

"So what happened? How'd you wreck the van?" Nicky frowned.

"Well... No. There was a deer. There was... It just- I didn't hit it. I almost did. I swerved to miss a deer..." She stared as though that tiny detail were the most serious aspect of this. "There was a deer. Just not one that I hit. No body. No hair, no blood... No evidence, but there was deer. It ran off..." She breathed, forcing a nervous smile at the end of her strange rant.

"Oh..." Nicky shrugged and shook her head slightly. "Okay... Well... You alright?"

"Yeah." Morello forced another smile, but her eyes still shined with unshed tears.

"You were drivin' around with Pornstache?" Nicky wondered.

Morello swallowed and looked down, but nodded.

Nicky frowned. "Just... like aimlessly or what? Where was he having you drive to? I thought you didn't have anywhere to go this afternoon."

Morello forced a laugh and shrugged. "The van was um..." She shook her head and stared down at the mattress. "God... I can't remember what was it he said..." She muttered to herself. "Um... A noise... I had to have him, um... Check a noise...?" She looked up with a nervous frown and tears in her eyes. She looked so fucking nervous.

Nicky stared back, feeling fear and anger growing in her chest. Morello was holding something back. She wasn't telling the whole truth here. Her version of events was jumbled, confused, nervous... She was hiding something. She looked scared.

"He was checking the van... We just had to drive... Not anywhere in particular, ya know? Just... Driving?" She sounded out of breath.

"And you swerved to avoid a deer?" Nicky pouted, crossing her arms over her chest as she tried to read her friend's expression and body language.

"Yeah. That's right." Morello forced another smile. "Hit a tree and rolled the van." She laughed a breathless chuckle before blinking and swallowing. "Sprained my wrist and hit my head a couple times..." She shrugged. "Look. I got stitches." She gestured up toward her forehead.

"And Pornstache got out of it unharmed though." Nicky noted. "You got stitches and a split on your arm. Bruises all over you..."

"Yeah, well..." Morello trailed off. "I really did hit a tree and roll the van. I don't know why I'm the only one who really got hurt. That's just life... I guess..."

"How'd you get finger-bruises up and down your arms?" Nicky nodded toward the long, thin bruises lining the smaller woman's arms. "That van or tree have hands?"

"Um..." Morello looked down again.

"Why'd he take you out driving for no reason, kid? You gotta tell me." Nicky stared.

The dark haired woman shook her head and shrugged, glancing up with tears shining in her eyes.

"Please tell me..." Nicky begged, reaching out and taking Morello's hand carefully in her own as she reached her other hand up and lightly brushed a loose curl out of the younger woman's eyes.

"It wasn't for no reason..." Morello whispered, refusing to make eye-contact with Nicky. "I just said... I mean, I told you... The van was actin' all wonky. I asked him to check it."

"Why'd you have to be there for that? Why would you ask him of all people? You've got bruises on your arms... Morello, don't make me explain everything that doesn't add up here. We're not on trial. I'm not a damn lawyer. Just tell me the truth." Nicky begged.

Morello shrunk down and sniffed back tears. "That's all. The van was messed up. We drove it to check. The deer ran out. We wrecked."

"You're sittin' here crying, kid..." Nicky persisted. "You're covered in the same bruises domestic abuse victims always have, and you're sitting in front of me - refusin' to look at me, sobbing..."

"I'm just..." Morello sniffed back her tears and looked up with a shrug and a very forced half-smile. "You know... Sad that my arm's sprained... Sad the van's gone..." She whispered.

Nicky shook her head. She was tired of the lies. Lorna need to tell her the truth. "He grabbed your arms. That, or someone else did. You're acting nervous and upset... Car accidents don't make people this sad..." Nicky put her hand against Morello's cheek as the younger woman blinked back tears and stared into her eyes. "I won't confront him... I know how this place is. I won't say shit unless you want me to... We'll work on a solution later. For now, I just want to know what happened... If he hurt you..."

Lorna looked down and closed her eyes.

"Why'd he really take you out all alone?" Nicky asked, watching her tiny friend closely. She had clear bruises up and down her arms. The bruise on her cheek looked like she'd been hit too - not by a tree either - by a hand.

Lorna shrugged and looked up, meeting Nicky's gaze. "He wanted to know about Red." She whispered. "He wanted me to tell him how she gets stuff smuggled into the prison."

Nicky nodded. So he took her out there to interrogate her... She must not have given him the answers he wanted. That's why he hit her and grabbed her so hard. She must have pissed him off when she didn't give him the information he asked for.

"I told him I didn't know..." Morello's eyes started filling with tears again as she looked down.

Nicky felt tears stinging her own eyes as well. The thought of that giant, six and a half foot tall guard cornering Lorna in the van out in the middle of nowhere, demanding information and grabbing and hitting her for not answering him made her want to kill the guy. How could someone be so cruel? Lorna was the least-threatening person in the entire prison. She was so sweet and kind and tiny. How could he hurt her?

"He asked again and said if he had to ask one more time..." She trailed off.

Nicky swallowed. Obviously she knew what happened - Morello didn't answer, and he hit her for it. She wondered how the van had gotten wrecked though.

"I didn't give in." Lorna whispered, tears dripping down over her cheeks. "I told him he could do whatever he had to do, but that I didn't know and I couldn't tell him..."

"And he hit you?" Nicky frowned, reaching her fingertips up and brushing them very lightly over the bruise forming on Lorna's cheek.

Morello shook her head. "No... Not at first... He started grabbin' at me - like touchin' my face and shovin' his hand up under my shirt... He didn't hit me until after I hit him first." She forced a breathless laugh. "I wasn't gonna fight back. I was too scared to... But then he started undoing his pants and sayin' real gross stuff... Then I was too scared not to fight back."

"Oh my god..." Nicky felt her shoulders slump as the air left her lungs. For some reason her mind hadn't even gone that far. Nicky just thought Mendez physically attacked her hit her for not answering. Of course the creepy pervert had sex on his mind. Of course he took it that direction.

Morello sniffed back tears as she shook her head and stared down at her lap. "I was really scared..." She spoke in a voice so small Nicky could barely hear her as she shifted on the mattress and laid her head down on the other woman's shoulder.

Nicky exhaled and wrapped her arm around Lorna's shoulders, hugging her tight. She stared ahead, unsure of exactly what to say to her friend next.

"I don't know if telling him about Red would'a made him stop or not. He could'a just asked me here, right? He had me drive out to the middle of nowhere for a reason. He wanted us to be alone when he asked. Maybe it wasn't only about that. Maybe he would'a hurt me either way." Morello mused, her voice still tiny as she snuggled down against Nicky's side.

"Morello... Did he rape you?" Nicky whispered, leaning forward enough so that when she looked down, she could see her friend's face.

Lorna shook her head and let out a tiny, nervous laugh. "No. I panicked and started the van back up. I wasn't gonna wreck it... I just wanted leverage - some level of control - to make him stop, you know? Like, 'don't touch me because I could drive us off the road and kill us right now if I wanted.' But he didn't take it seriously - I mean, not the way I wanted him to at least. He just grabbed the wheel and we fought over it while I slammed down on the gas. Somehow the van went off-road and hit the tree... And rolled." She closed her eyes, shaking her head again.

"So it's entirely his fault the fuckin' thing's wrecked." Nicky scowled. "He just had to stop attacking you..."

"Yeah." Morello exhaled. "So we wrecked... and maybe I got knocked out a minute. When I came around, he was sorta climbing off me because, you know, the van rolled. We both got tossed around a bit and I guess he landed on me, and my head and my arm hurt so bad. He dragged me out of the van and up onto the road. Said he wasn't really gonna do nothin'. I didn't believe that, but you know... Maybe he really was just tryin' to scare me into answering, right? Could be... How could I know if he would have actually done it? And then he tried to hurt me again - or maybe he was still just trying to scare me."

"I fucking doubt that... and even if he were just trying to scare you, that's not okay." Nicky frowned, pulling Morello closer and resting her chin on her soft curls. "You don't scare people by sexually assaulting them. That's fucking bullshit."

"I know." Morello whispered, looking down at her lap.

"Did he stop on his own the second time?" Nicky asked.

Morello shook her head. "No. He was shoving his hand down the front of my pants..." She forced a breathless laugh and kept her eyes down, clearly so nervous about telling this story. "Then Luschek drove up to pick us up and take us back. That's what stopped him. Then he pretended like he was comforting me - like I was crying 'cuz I was hurt."

Nicky frowned and shook her head back and forth as she stared into Lorna's eyes. She pictured the smaller woman on the ground, crying while Mendez groped her and threatened her. Nicky was so mad... How could Mendez do this to sweet, innocent little Lorna? How could anyone look at this adorable, tiny, vulnerable young woman and take any pleasure in hurting her?

"Maybe he really was bluffing." Morello whispered. "Either way... Do you think I could stay close to you for a while? You know, like... don't leave me alone anywhere?" She laughed nervously. "I don't want to be clingy-"

"You're not..." Nicky frowned. "You're not clingy, kid... This guy attacked you. You don't want to be left by yourself and give him a chance to do it again. That's perfectly reasonable. You stay near me... That's not clingy. I'll kick his ass if he tries anything."

"Yeah..." Lorna scoffed and rolled her eyes. "You'll kick his ass?"

"Of course. If he tries to hurt you I will." Nicky frowned, reaching her hand down and running her fingers gently over the split on Lorna's wrist.

"And you'll go to Max." Lorna pouted.

"Maybe we should tell someone what he did." Nicky shrugged. "He's a creep. Everyone knows it. They really might believe you."

Lorna closed her eyes and shook her head. "No... Nobody ever believes me. They all think I'm nuts... Telling would be the worst thing to do. Then he'd just be mad and definitely do something worse."

Nicky nodded. That was true. If they told someone about this and they weren't believed, it would definitely make everything worse. Mendez could abuse his power further in order to separate her from Morello - get the smaller woman alone again. He'd learn from the mistakes me made this time and really, really hurt her next time.

"Then I'll just have to keep you close. As long as I have to." Nicky promised. "If he ever touches you again, I'm gonna have to do something."

"Okay... But I'm hopin' it won't come to that." Lorna forced a small laugh as she snuggled down against the other woman's body. "Hopefully he realizes how dangerous that is, right? That Luschek almost saw him... That I could tell someone and get him fired... Hopefully that possibility will scare him off from trying anything else. He got away with this much. He's gotta quit while he's ahead, right?"

Nicky forced a small laugh. "I hope so." She agreed. It could really go either way - Mendez could realize he was skating on thin ice - almost getting caught by the other guard and the possibility of Lorna not keeping his secret could easily scare him off... Or, he could become fixated on her - he didn't get what he wanted. He almost did...

"Just stay close for now. Just in case." Morello suggested, her voice very slightly shaking.

Nicky hugged her closer. "Of course I'll stay close."

Lorna exhaled tiredly, cuddling closer to Nicky as she used her uninjured hand to absentmindedly trace light patterns onto the other woman's thigh. "Thanks for talkin' to me... For convincing me to tell you the truth." She whispered.

"Sure." Nicky felt tears in her eyes again. She could hardly bear knowing Morello almost kept this a secret from her. Knowing the woman she loved - her best friend - had felt so scared and alone broke her heart. The most intimidating, sociopathic, crass, vulgar person in the entire building had threatened and attacked her, and Morello was very nearly too scared to say anything about it. She had almost kept it entirely to herself. "Thanks for telling me... Don't ever be scared to tell me stuff okay? 'Specially not stuff like this." Nicky reminded her. "If I have to, I'll threaten to tell what he did... He thinks everyone's so scared of him... I'm not."

"I am." Morello whispered, shrinking down next to Nicky.

"That's what I'm here for. I love ya, kid." Nicky hugged her arm tighter around Lorna's shoulders. "I won't let anything else happen."

Morello nodded and closed her eyes. "Thanks, Nichols... I love you too." She smiled.

xxxxxx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. This was my first Orange is the New Black story - a sort of quick test-story to see if I have a grasp on the characters and in interest in writing them. I'm working on a longer, more elaborate, more original one that includes more characters. 
> 
> I often like to enter the fanfiction-writing part of a fandom a little slowly... so I'm hoping this story wasn't too rushed and the ending wasn't too unfulfilling. I didn't want to go off the rails and have Nicky and Lorna attempt to get Mendez fired or do some elaborate revenge scheme... I realize I could have taken this story several different directions and could have had it go on for like fifteen more chapters, but I'm choosing to write an entire separate story to do something like that with it - where it begins as an original plot from my own head - not an extended scene from an existing episode. My next story will be long and awesome. (I hope so at least.) So stay tuned. It's not finished yet... so it might be a little while... But I'm working on chapter 6 right now.


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